


let's not give the game away

by thecivilunrest



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: F/F, Getting Together, Rule 63
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-05
Updated: 2014-08-05
Packaged: 2018-02-11 23:20:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2086944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thecivilunrest/pseuds/thecivilunrest
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hajime manages to come over every morning when there are still curlers in Oikawa’s hair.</p>
<p>Or, Five times Iwaizumi watches Oikawa get ready for something.</p>
            </blockquote>





	let's not give the game away

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know. I'm sorry. I know no one cares about this.
> 
> (And if anyone's curious about the image I had for them in my head for them, [Viria's](http://viria.tumblr.com/post/92747696533/as-i-said-heres-the-second-part-of-haikyuu) [fanart](http://viria.tumblr.com/post/92081707878/i-never-knew-how-badly-i-needed-haikyuu-rule-63) was it.)

**(1)**

Hajime manages to come over every morning when there are still curlers in Oikawa’s hair. Some mornings are better than others--Oikawa’s hair is ready and only has to be taken down and brushed through when Hajime gets there, verses the ones where she still has to leave them in for fifteen minutes so the curls won’t drop before the end of the school day. 

This is what she signed up for when she decided to pick Oikawa up every morning before school, and by their third year of high school she’s used to it. Waiting for Oikawa is just something that Hajime does now. 

Mrs. Oikawa is still in her bathrobe when Hajime walks through the door, cup of tea in hand. “Good morning,” she says, her standard greeting thick with sleep, the way it always is in the mornings. “Would you like some toasted bread?” 

“No thanks,” Hajime answers, the way she always does. 

“I think Tooru-chan was having a crisis the last time I checked. You’ll have to go see how she’s doing now.” 

Hajime sighs, annoyed, and rushes up the stairs. They don’t have _time_ for a full scale crisis. Oikawa can blow the smallest things up and make them seem larger than life, a life threatening problem instead of just a missing sock. She’s picky like that. 

The first thing that Hajime notices when she bursts into Oikawa’s room is that today is definitely a full curler day. “I’m so glad you’re here!” Oikawa says, standing up and clasping her hands together. “Please help me take all these out, I don’t have time to do it _and_ do my make-up.” 

Unbelievable. 

“You should just cut your hair off, it’s easier,” Hajime tells her, taking out each curl carefully and making sure it bounces just so. One screw up and they’ll be here for ten more minutes. The fact that she is a perfectionist is Oikawa’s best and worst quality. 

“Not all of us can rock the shorn sheep look, Iwa-chan,” she sing songs. Hajime reaches up and slaps her on the back of the head, with a huff. “Ouch, that hurt!”

“You deserved it.” Oikawa _knew_ that her hair had been cut too short on purpose, the jerk. She takes a deep breath, for patience, before continuing to help Oikawa fix her hair. Maybe she’ll creep over in the middle of the night and chop it all off, so that she didn’t have to do this anymore. 

Maybe. 

 

 

**(2)**

Hajime doesn’t know why she lets Oikawa talk her into these things. When she voices this thought aloud Oikawa only smiles. “Because they’re fun, of course!” She offers her shimmery pink lipstick to Hajime, who rejects it, before turning back to the mirror and applying another coat. 

“There,” she says, throwing her hair over her shoulder. “How do I look?”

_Beautiful_ , is the first thing that comes to Hajime’s mind, but she bites her lip before she says it out loud. Oikawa always looks beautiful and what’s worse is she knows it, telling her that would be redundant as well as make her head swell twice the size of Japan. 

“Fine,” is what Iwaizumi says. 

“You always know how to flatter a girl, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa giggles. She gives herself one last look in the mirror before giving Hajime a once over. “You look nice too. C’mon, let’s go,” she says, leading the way. 

 

The goukon goes about as well as Hajime expects. She has the seat straight across from Oikawa--thank God for Oikawa’s quick mouth--but she is seated between two boys which is not exactly what she wants. It could be worse, though. They could want to throw their arms across her shoulders like they know her, or smell--both of which Hajime couldn’t stand. 

Oikawa takes control of the group, the way Hajime knew she would. She honestly doesn’t know why Oikawa is invited to these things anymore--unless a boy already has a girlfriend she steals all of the attention. 

A part of Hajime thinks that Oikawa doesn’t even _try_ to steal the boys’ attention. She just charms them the same way that she breathes, without thinking or meaning to. All the boys hang on her every word and laugh and try to get her to notice them individually, which she never does and they accept that with good humor. 

The only boy that doesn’t seem remotely interested is the boy sitting to Hajime’s right. He keeps checking his phone or eating the chips in the middle of the table, not looking anywhere near Oikawa or her sparkling brilliance. 

“Some group date, huh? Seems more like a harem to me,” he notes to Hajime, glancing up from his phone for the first time. 

Hajime looks at the disgruntled expressions on the other girls’ faces and can feel a storm brewing, even if Oikawa can’t. There will be plenty of gossip about Oikawa after this, Hajime’s sure of it. 

“So how’d you get an invitation?” Hajime doesn’t really care, but it’s better than watching Oikawa get fawned over. 

“I lost a bet. You?”

“Got dragged along.” She nods toward Oikawa, indicating who exactly it was doing the dragging. 

A wry smile crosses over the boy’s face. “Oh, to have more attractive and wily friends,” he says, making Hajime laugh, a surprised sound. 

Oikawa’s head shoots up. She looks between Hajime and the boy once, her eyes narrowing a bit before her expression smooths over again. The only reason that Hajime catches the change is because she’s known Oikawa for so long--it’s possible that everyone else missed it. 

“And what about you, Koizumi-san?” Oikawa asks, smiling her glittering smile on him. Hajime could slap her, knowing that something unpleasant is going to happen. She’s seen this happen before, too many times. “You look like a pretty cool guy. Why don’t you choose a song for Sato-kun to sing?” 

It’s not the smoothest delivery that Oikawa’s ever given, but after giving her an odd look Koizumi--how had Oikawa caught his name but she hadn’t?--shrugs and does as she says, giving Hajime an apologetic look as he goes. 

Her belly burns. Even someone as apathetic Koizumi can’t refuse Oikawa when she’s in a radiant mood. Hajime keeps that in mind. 

 

Hajime doesn’t talk to Oikawa the whole way home. Oikawa doesn’t seem to notice, chattering the entire way about what one of the girls was wearing or some piece of gossip that she managed to find out about one of the boys. 

“Can you believe it?” Oikawa asks, breathless as they walk underneath the streetlights. 

_No, I can’t believe it_ Hajime wants to say. Instead she says nothing at all, grateful that Oikawa’s house is straight ahead and then she’ll finally be alone. 

“You’re mad,” Oikawa observes, stopping dead. She grabs Hajime’s arm so that she has to stop too. They’re both standing under the streetlight, and the brightness does Oikawa’s face no favors, pointing out every flaw that she tried to hide and the shadows making her look haggard. 

“I’m tired,” Hajime answers, the first words that she’s uttered the entire walk home. 

And if Hajime can read Oikawa, then Oikawa can read her as well. “Iwa-chan,” Oikawa sighs. “What is it? Tell me,” she needles, pushing to get her way, like she always has. 

“Why do you even ask me to go with you to these things?” Hajime’s voice is louder than she intends for it to be. She struggles to control her volume. “Every time. Every time, as soon as I’m having fun or someone seems like they’re more interested in me than you, you-” a lump grows in Hajime’s throat at this but she pushes on, “you have to have that person too. Why? Why can’t you let me have anything for myself?” 

Hajime can tell that Oikawa is about to say something glib, to play it off the way she plays off everything else, and suddenly Hajime’s earlier words aren’t a lie. She’s more than tired, she’s exhausted, and she doesn’t want to play along with Oikawa anymore. 

“Save it,” Hajime says before she keeps walking, pulling her arm from Oikawa’s grasp. “I don’t care.”

They walk in silence all the way to Oikawa’s house. Hajime would be glad to just leave her there and keep walking home, but Oikawa lingers on the sidewalk. Hajime sighs and waits, knowing that if she’s going to get any peace at all she might as well let her best friend have her way. 

“I do it because,” Oikawa stops and bites her lip, weighing her words. “What if you stop caring about me? What if you start liking that boy more than you like me? Then what? I have to make them like me because that way they won’t care about you, and then you wouldn’t ca-” 

“Selfish.” Hajime cuts her off. She wants to slap Oikawa, to shake her until all of the bad parts of her fall out, but she stops herself. “You’re so unbelievably selfish. I cannot _believe_ you. You’re awful. The worst person that I have _ever_ met.” 

Usually, when Hajime says that to Oikawa, she says them with an undercurrent of frustration, or humor. There’s none of that tonight. Instead she stares at Oikawa, stares at her beautiful face, and wonders why Oikawa can’t ever be satisfied. She can’t just be content with Hajime’s heart, no, she has to have the heart of everyone that Hajime could care about too. 

What an awful, selfish person. In that one moment, Hajime hates her. 

Oikawa doesn’t seem to have anything else to say, simply staring at Hajime with a pale, drawn face, and so Hajime just turns on her heel and walks away. She is beyond done with this night and with Oikawa. 

 

There isn’t much that Hajime Iwaizumi doesn’t know about Tooru Oikawa, but how Oikawa manages to get into her bedroom when her parents are asleep is one of them. She used to do this when she wanted to sneak out when they were kids, but Hajime isn’t going anywhere with Oikawa tonight, and she knows it. 

Hajime doesn’t say anything when she hears her door open, and she continues to face the wall when Oikawa slides in beside her, pulling the covers over both of them.

“Sorry,” Oikawa whispers, her voice full of tears. “Please don’t hate me, Iwa-chan.” 

At the sound of her name Hajime stirs, even though she had wanted to continue ignoring Oikawa. Instead she turns and studies Oikawa’s face, making sure that her tears were genuine and not the waterworks that she turns on when she didn’t know how else to get her way. 

The tears seem real enough, and Oikawa is biting her lip to keep from crying more, her chin trembling. They stare at each other’s faces for a little while, not speaking. There’s not much light but the moon shines through Hajime’s curtains, and that’s more than enough to see. 

“I can’t hate you,” Hajime says finally. “I wish I could, but I can’t.” 

Oikawa nods. That’s good enough for her. When she reaches for Hajime’s hands and tangles their fingers together, Hajime doesn’t pull away. 

 

 

**(3)**

Oikawa always wears a ribbon in her hair during volleyball games. She has ever since their very first game when they were eight-years-old. The ribbons have changed colors depending on the color of her jersey, but they’ve always been there, somehow never falling out during a game. 

She’s tugging on her ribbon when Hajime walks into the locker room. “Come on, Captain,” she says. “Let’s go win this.” 

The championship game, the last game of their high school career’s, win or lose. It feels like they’ve been waiting for this their entire lives. Hajime is glad that she gets to have Oikawa on the same side of the net as her. 

Oikawa smiles, all confidence and bravado. “We’ll be number one,” she promises and glides out the door like there really is a crown on her head. In a way, Hajime figures there is. 

 

They lose. 

There are three points between them and their opponents, and Hajime can’t decide if being that close is better or worse. At the end of the day it hardly matters they lose, and are told to be glad that they are second place. 

Hajime knows this has to be eating at Oikawa--she has always longed to be the best and being so close and yet so far has to be killing her--but she smiles and pretends that she isn’t just as tired and sweaty as the rest of them. 

It’s only once the rest of the team slips away after dinner does Oikawa let her smile die and the light in her eyes fade. 

“We lost,” she whispers, like Hajime doesn’t know, like she wasn’t there too. “This was my fault.” 

“What?” Hajime asks. “No, it wasn’t. You played better than you ever have-” 

Oikawa smiles, but this time it’s sharp enough to kill. “If that’s true then why did we lose? Because my best isn’t good enough? Is that what you’re saying, Iwa-chan?” 

Hajime has answers for that-- _we lost because they were better as a team, one person cannot tip the outcome of a game_ \--but they’re nothing that Oikawa will want to hear. She’ll twist them up inside her own head and come to the same conclusion: she isn’t good enough, isn’t naturally talented enough, that hard work can never overcome natural talent. Hajime doesn’t know how to argue that, so she doesn’t. 

“No,” Hajime finally grounds out. “It’s not.” 

They don’t speak after that. 

 

The next day Hajime finds Oikawa at the gym, even though it’s a Sunday, even though it’s eight in the morning and normal people are sleeping. She’s never thought of Oikawa as normal. 

Oikawa stops bouncing the ball when she notices Hajime in the gym, and uses the sleeve of her t-shirt to wipe the sweat off her face. “Hey, Iwa-chan,” she says, walking over to where Hajime is. 

“What are you doing?” Hajime asks, voice flat. 

“Isn’t it obvious? I’m practicing. University isn’t that far away, you know, and my new team wouldn’t want me to slack off.” Oikawa rattles her response off quickly, like she hasn’t planned for this conversation. 

Only Hajime knows better. She’s not practicing, she’s punishing herself and using the fact that she’s going to college for volleyball as an excuse. 

“You shouldn’t practice alone. Give me the ball,” Hajime says, and Oikawa does, watching carefully as Hajime goes to stand on the other side of the net. “Well?” she asks. “Do you want to play or not?” 

Oikawa smiles then, and it’s more real than before. They play for thirty minutes, until Oikawa wins their final game five to four. Hajime slides against the wall then, sitting down. She’s almost as sweaty as Oikawa now. 

When Oikawa offers her the water bottle that she brought, Hajime silently accepts it. It’s an indirect kiss, or at least it would be if Hajime cared about those things anymore. Right now she’s just thirsty, so she drinks half the bottle and leaves the rest for Oikawa to enjoy. 

“Are you sure you don’t want to play volleyball after high school? I’m sure once they saw you play the team at my university would be more than happy to let you on it too,” Oikawa tells her, sliding down beside her. They’re touching, shoulder to shoulder and thigh to thigh, and the sweat rolling down both of them makes everything sticky and warm but neither of them move. 

“High school volleyball was more than enough for me,” Hajime tells her. “I want to try something new, you know? Instead of everything staying the same.” 

There is a split second where Oikawa’s expression is unfathomable, her eyes blank, and then she grins. “Too bad,” she hums, before leaning a bit closer and pressing her lips to Hajime’s. 

There’s nothing indirect about this kiss. Oikawa’s lips are soft, but insistent, and Hajime can feel her warm skin through the dampness of her t-shirt. She’s not wearing any lipgloss or make-up of any kind, which is rare for Oikawa, and so there’s nothing artificial about the kiss at all. This is more than Hajime ever could have expected for a kiss with Oikawa Tooru. 

Eventually Oikawa pulls away, and Hajime is still stuck frozen and feeling stupid that she didn’t react at all. “Sorry, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa says. “I wanted to try that just once.” 

She leaves Hajime staring after her, hand pressed to her mouth. 

 

 

**(4)**

Hajime would have thought that it would have been hard to avoid someone who lived only a block away from you, who you saw every day despite being in different classes, but Oikawa somehow manages it. 

Without volleyball club to tie her down,because Hajime is certain that volleyball would have tied her down at the very least, but they had resigned after their final game and now seeing each other isn’t mandatory by the Aobajousai. 

“Tooru’s already gone to school today,” her mother says every morning for a week when Hajime comes to pick her up, the way she always has. “Are you sure she didn’t tell you about her project?” 

That’s when Hajime knows things are bad--if Oikawa is sacrificing her extra twenty minutes of sleep in the morning for this then there’s a reason for it. 

She’s not picking up any of Hajime’s calls, either, or answering her texts. At school it’s impossible to find Oikawa alone because she either surrounds herself with boys or forces conversation with one of the girls from her own class or just isn’t around at all. Oikawa is like a ghost; Hajime knows that she exists but she is very hard to find. 

Hajime doesn’t have the patience for this, nor does she have the time. Graduation is steadily creeping upon them, an expected deadline, and she doesn’t want to graduate with things like this between them. Oikawa has been a constant presence since she was five-years-old; they can’t end with a whimper. 

On Monday the following week _she’s_ the one that wakes up early and heads to Oikawa’s house two hours earlier than Oikawa’s usual pick up time. Oikawa’s dad, who Hajime usually doesn’t see since he has to commute to work, is the one that opens the door. 

“Oikawa told me that she has a special project to work on and she needs my help this morning,” Hajime lies. Oikawa’s father adjusts his glasses and then steps aside, letting her into his house. 

Oikawa is still sleeping, drool on the corner of her mouth and her blankets scattered everywhere. Years of sleepovers have taught Hajime that Oikawa is a terrible and ugly sleeper.

Hajime wastes no time and straddles Oikawa, her legs on either side of her waist, before shaking her awake. 

Oikawa wakes up with a start. “Mom-” she starts, and then she opens her eyes and sees Hajime looking down at her. “Iwa-chan, what are yo-”

“Cut the crap,” Hajime says before Oikawa can say anything. “Why are you avoiding me?”

“It’s pretty hard to avoid you when you’re sitting on top of me.” Oikawa grins at her, as glib as ever, but Hajime isn’t buying it today. 

“Then why haven’t I seen you in a week?”

“You know how it is, I’m just so busy...”

“Busy ignoring me, you mean. Why, Oikawa?” Underneath her, Oikawa’s body shifts, turning her face as if she doesn’t want to look Hajime anymore. 

Oikawa’s expression shifts from a confident smile to bleakness, and this time she really does look away. “We’re going to go to different universities soon,” she says. “And you said that you don’t want things to be the same. You have to give me time to get used to that. I can’t do it at the drop of a hat, you know.” 

“We’re both going to Tokyo, we won’t be _that_ far away from each other...” Hajime doesn’t understand this, and she doesn’t understand when Oikawa looks at her with sharp eyes either. 

“We won’t be together.” 

And then it clicks. Everything comes together: the way the team’s loss affected Oikawa, the kiss, why she’s been avoiding her... Hajime just stares and has to resist the urge to punch Oikawa for her stupidity. 

She leans down and grab’s Oikawa’s chin. Oikawa opens her mouth to protest, but Hajime doesn’t let her, kissing her instead. The kiss goes from hard and rough to soft and lingering in a heartbeat, Hajime’s fingers loosening on Oikawa’s jaw. 

Hajime ignores morning breath and just shuts her eyes, feeling Oikawa’s body beneath her own and how soft Oikawa’s lips are. She doesn’t think about the stupidity of this, or morning breath, or Oikawa’s parents just a floor below. Hajime just thinks about Oikawa and how good it feels to kiss her. 

When she pulls away Oikawa is staring up at her, eyes teary. “Live with me then. Our universities aren’t that far apart, right?” Hajime asks, gently. “If we live together then we won’t have to be apart.” 

Oikawa just stares, her eyes roving over Hajime’s face before reaching up and covering Hajime’s face with her hand. “Yeah, you’re right. Of course I will--my answer’s yes.” 

“Dumbass Oikawa,” Hajime breathes, more fond than anything. Then she looks at the clock and realizes what time it is and gets off Oikawa. “Get going we have school today. You take too long to get ready.” 

“Okay,” Oikawa says, before moving to do just that.

They walk most of the way to school holding hands. 

 

 

**(5)**

Oikawa still in bed when she walks through the door. She only stops feigning sleep when Hajime sits on the bed and lets her smell the coffee. She grabs the cup with both hands. “White chocolate mocha?” she asks, like she doesn’t already know. 

“What else?” Hajime asks. 

Oikawa kisses her cheek. “Iwa-chan’s the best,” she says, taking a long swig and sighing at the taste. 

“Yeah, yeah,” Hajime says distractedly, taking off her shirt and heading to the shower. She knows she’s all gross right now from her run. Running is something that Hajime only recently took up again, deciding that if Oikawa was still going to stay in shape then so should she. 

Hajime closes her eyes against the spray and relaxes in the water. She has a class at noon so she has plenty of time to get ready. She doesn’t notice Oikawa slipping into the shower behind her until she feels a kiss on the back of her neck. 

“What are you doing?” Hajime asks, turning around. It’s a tight fit with the two of them, but it works. 

“Showering,” she answers, coy. She grabs their bottle of soap and squeezes it into her hands. “Let me help you get ready.” Oikawa lathers it up and then runs her hands all over Hajime’s body, helping her do just that.


End file.
